Langston Hood
Sports Editor
Black & Gold Weekend produced electrifying competitions across many sports, as close games and Wooster pride served as the themes of the weekend. The Fighting Scots women’s soccer team came into the weekend following a strong week of competition as they outclassed Wilmington on Saturday, Sept. 18 and Mount Union on Wednesday, Sept. 22. Momentum and confidence were both high for Wooster as the Adrian Bulldogs traveled to Wooster for the match on Saturday, Sept. 25. However, Adrian was also riding a two-game winning streak, and it was clear that they could give Wooster a spanking throughout the game.
The match was made extra special because it served as Senior Day for the Fighting Scots women. Among the celebrated were: Alexa Bencic ’22, Miura Wiley ’22, Kylie Davis ’22, Holly Thompson ’22, Lillian Miller ’22, Sarah Wargo ’22, Maya McDonald ’22 and Kelsey Stone ’22. This core group has enjoyed a great amount of success during their tenure at Wooster, including two NCAC championships and two trips to the NCAA tournament. Despite this year’s shaky start, the Fighting Scots will definitely once again compete for another NCAC championship with this core group leading the charge.
The match began as a back and forth competition, with neither team capable of taking control in the early minutes. This would change in the 10th minute as Miura Wiley ’22 broke the deadlock to give the Fighting Scots a 1-0 advantage in the early stages of the match. This did little to curb the ambitions of the Bulldogs as they continued to attack and hold their own after conceding. After only 4 minutes of trailing, the Bulldogs pulled even with the Scots with a goal in the 14th minute to knot the game at 1-1.
Chances were abundant throughout the first half for both sides, but Wooster seemed to be keen on regaining the advantage. The Fighting Scots’ attack put significant pressure on Adrian in the first half, launching eight shots at the Adrian goal, with six of them landing on target. After about 25 minutes of being locked at 1-1, the Fighting Scots regained the lead with a goal by Katie Schumacher ’23 after a spell of chaos in the box. Teddi Farson ’23, managed to poke the ball to Schumacher after a Wooster corner kick and the junior forward tucked the ball into the back of the net to put the Scots up 2-1 heading into halftime.
Wooster edged out in the first half, outshooting the Bulldogs 8-6. Wooster also earned three corner kicks and forced the Adrian goalkeeper to make four saves. At halftime, the match looked to be under the Fighting Scots’ control as a frenetic crowd cheered on Wooster on Senior Day.
The second half continued much like the first, as both teams combined for 15 shots to push both defenses to their limits. Wooster looked up to the task as the backline corralled the Bulldogs attack in the preliminary stages of the second half. Despite Wooster’s best attempts, Adrian found the goal they had been chasing for 20 minutes as they leveled the competition at 2-2 in the 60th minute. Both teams were desperate for the game-winning goal, but neither side was successful as 90 minutes of play left the teams locked at two goals a piece.
Wooster came out fired up and intent on leaving Carl Dale with a win in their back pocket. This was evident early on as Farson found the game winner just two minutes and 40 seconds into the first period of overtime. Farson had the following to say about the team’s attitude, “I knew once the game went into overtime, we weren’t going to lose. We were all locked in and the energy within the team was high.” Farson’s game-winning goal made her the NCAC’s leader in goals with seven on the season.
Senior Lillian Miller, touched on her team’s mentality and the importance of senior day, saying, “In the pressure of overtime, we pulled together as a team to stay defensively strong which led us to have a breakaway opportunity that we took advantage of. It was an exciting way to end our senior game against a tough team”.
Fifth-year Miura Wiley ’22, spoke about the tight-knit nature of the team, as she said, “It was a great time win against a really physical team. Everyone fought really hard to dig out the win and we were able to put something together early on in overtime”. The team’s mentality will be tested as the conference season is just around the corner, beginning Saturday, Oct. 2 with DePauw after the final non-conference tune up takes place on Wednesday, Sept. 29 at Baldwin Wallace.
The women’s soccer team will travel to DePauw for their conference opener Saturday, October 2 at 2:30.